The 'Mayor's Movers' All Set To Run For CL

18th September 2017

On Sunday October 15th fifteen members of the West Midlands Combined Authority including Mayor of the West Midlands Mayor Andy Street CBE will be taking on the 13.1mile Simplyhealth Great Birmingham Run. The ‘Mayor’s Movers’ will be raising funds for Cure Leukaemia and also competing in The Arcadis Business Challenge.

Members from across the region including from Birmingham, Solihull, Dudley, Wolverhampton and Coventry authorities are in training to pound the streets of the Second City to raise funds towards Cure Leukaemia’s £1m Appeal to expand the globally significant Centre for Clinical Haematology at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham.

The £3.2m expansion project began in May after the GBSLEP granted over £2m to the expansion and, at a launch event held at KPMG’s Birmingham office, Cure Leukaemia announced its commitment to raising the additional £1m required. Once completed, the Centre will double its capacity for blood cancer patients, ground-breaking clinical trials and specialist research nurse positions. Not only will the Centre immediately help save more lives, it will also hasten global progress towards eradicating blood cancer within 25 years.

The Mayor attended the Appeal’s launch in January and also when work started on the project earlier this summer and is excited to be taking part for such a fantastic cause. He said:

‘The work pioneering work Cure Leukaemia supports, led by Professor Charlie Craddock CBE is not only benefitting patients across our great region but also globally. The expanded Centre will save more lives and firmly enhance the West Midland’s status on the world’s stage and we are determined to raise as many funds as possible to help this transformational project become a reality. I look forward to seeing the public out in force on October 15th and our team are determined to come out on top in The Arcadis Business Challenge!’

The Arcadis Business Challenge invites teams from companies across the Midlands to compete for fastest-time trophies and all-important bragging rights. The four fastest times by participants are added up for each team to pick the overall winners, which means the smallest teams can take on the giants of the corporate world.

Central to Cure Leukaemia’s appeal are the patients around the region who are battling the disease right now and four patients from areas represented by the ‘Mayor’s Movers’; Wolverhampton, Birmingham, Dudley and Coventry are set to inspire the WMCA team forward.

Wolverhampton Wanderers goalkeeper Carl Ikeme, 31, who was diagnosed with Acute Leukaemia in July said:

“Since I was diagnosed and have been receiving treatment the support I have had from the people of Wolverhampton and the whole footballing community has been incredible and I am immensely grateful. Knowing there are people out there running, cycling and holding events to raise vital funds and awareness for the work of Cure Leukaemia is really inspiring and I’d like to wish Richard White from the Wolverhampton Authority and the whole ‘Mayor’s Movers’ team the very best of luck this October.”

‘It was a massive shock to be diagnosed with leukaemia earlier this summer and my life has since been turned upside down. However, I am determined to beat this hideous disease and help raise awareness and as much money as possible for Cure Leukaemia. When I heard that the Mayor and his team would like to run and fundraise in support of me and three other patients across the region, it was a huge boost. The support I have received since being diagnosed has been phenomenal and has made me even more determined to beat this. I’d like to wish Andy and his team all the very best of luck for the Simplyhealth Great Birmingham Run, I will be behind you all the way. Go Andy and the Mayor’s Movers!'

The Director of Public Health in Dudley, Deborah Harkins, 49, who celebrated one year since her stem cell transplant to combat Acute Myeloid Leukaemia in the summer said:

‘I would like to wish my colleague Sarah Norman and the whole ‘Mayor’s Movers’ team the very best of luck this October. Without the Centre for Clinical Haematology, Cure Leukaemia and the ground-breaking clinical trial I have had access to, I probably wouldn’t be here now.

As a result, I am fully supporting Cure Leukaemia’s £1m Centre Appeal to expand this vital facility and give other patients in my position the opportunity I have been lucky enough to have."

27-year-old Katherine Boulton from Stoke in Coventry who has had Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia, Acute Myeloid Leukaemia, a bone marrow transplant, GVHD, aspergilloma, a heart attack, a coma, deafness in one ear, a kidney transplant and subsequent renal failure in 2015 for which she has 8 hours of dialysis for every day said:

‘I’m delighted Martin Reeves from the Coventry authority is running for Cure Leukaemia. It is great to know there are people supporting patients like myself and raising vital funds and awareness for this terrible disease.

I’ve been battling blood cancer and many devastating side effects from the age of 15 and I am passionate about helping to make more people aware of leukaemia and it’s side effects so I’d like to wish Martin and the team good luck and urge everyone to support the Mayor’s Movers!’